Although Argus was, in a sense, a "congenitally disabled" Titan, reduced to being a pawn for others from birth to demise, his value as a star soul was undeniable.
No one could say that Argus was not a Titan; even if he was controlled by Sargeras and used by the Burning Legion as a resource to be freely exploited, it could not hide his essence as a star soul, and this essence was the best tool in Sargeras's hands right now.
Sargeras never intended to forcibly merge the powers of other Titans from the start; otherwise, he would have done so to Argus long ago. Even though Argus was already disoriented and had become his half-mad puppet, Sargeras had never completely seized Argus's power, but rather utilized his energy and authority separately.
However, in the current situation, Argus's life or death was no longer critical. Sargeras needed a weapon powerful enough to completely destroy Azeroth.
Since even the entire Burning Legion had failed to achieve this, Sargeras no longer hesitated to reveal his hidden secrets. He retrieved Aman'thul's soul from the Fell Witch Coven and offered the father of the gods' power as nourishment to Argus.
Regardless of whether Aman'thul would truly die due to the massive depletion of his soul essence in his already weakened state, Argus, who received Aman'thul's essence, was certainly not going to have a good outcome. But this was irrelevant to Sargeras; he estimated that the fusion of two Titans' energies, even in the worst-case scenario, would create an unstable super bomb.
Under the calculations of the Burning Legion's demon scholars and engineers, the minimum power of this super bomb would be sufficient to completely annihilate matter within a certain astronomical distance into basic energy particles, comparable to the power of a supernova.
Even if Arthas did not know this calculation result, he could guess that the attack Sargeras designed, capable of completely wiping Azeroth from the universe, would certainly not be small in power.
And Aman'thul's soul, looking so withered, suggested that most of the father of the gods' power had likely been drained and injected into the body of the deceased Titan Argus.
Most importantly, Aman'thul's power was sufficient to allow Argus to bypass the restrictions of the sargerite keystone, dimensional travel the endless deep space of the universe, and project his power onto Azeroth, bringing the final judgment upon that planet—this was also why Sargeras chose to use the power of Aman'thul, the Titan who controlled the power of time and space, to amplify Argus.
At this moment, Sargeras seemed to have victory in his grasp. "Now, what do you think, savior of Azeroth? How will you stop the power of the Pantheon?"
As Sargeras said, Arthas now had to contend with more than just a Dark Titan. He was now facing the divine power that Sargeras had stolen from the throne of the Titan gods, power that originally belonged to the stars and the Titans.
The change in the situation made Arthas instinctively tighten his grip on Frostmourne's hilt. He had long been wary of the deceased Titan Argus, but he had not expected Sargeras to use Argus's power so extremely… using a Titan as a consumable, perhaps only Sargeras in the entire universe could do such a thing.
The situation now seemed to be taking a turn for the worse. Originally, Arthas was trying to delay Sargeras and buy enough time for the allied forces, but now it had reversed; Sargeras was actually the one truly stalling for time.
He only needed to wait until Argus could use Aman'thul's power to trace back to Azeroth's location, then he could order Argus to destroy Azeroth in the simplest and most direct way.
"Come, Arthas, you have no other choice. Why not join my cause? With your help, the Burning Legion, the Pantheon, none of it will matter anymore. We can completely solve all the problems of this universe. Haven't you always wanted to mold the universe into your ideal form?"
Everything Sargeras said was true. In his view, the Burning Legion and the Dark Pantheon were merely tools to achieve his goals. Now that a better candidate like Arthas had appeared, he would naturally try to recruit him.
The balance formed by the six fundamental forces was the foundation of their universe's existence, and the inherent opposition between these forces also created numerous frictions. In Sargeras's view, the Pantheon's spread of so-called order in the universe was merely suppressing the expansion of other elemental forces.
After witnessing countless planets corrupted by the Void and the Pantheon's helplessness in the face of it, Sargeras naturally found it even more difficult to understand the practical significance of the Pantheon's actions.
Since false order was utterly meaningless, Sargeras would naturally choose a more direct and brutal method to resolve the nearly endless disputes of the six fundamental forces in the universe—using absolute violence to purge everything until all the tendrils of the six fundamental forces attempting to subvert the real universe were severed.
Sargeras had even thought that after cleansing the entire universe, even the Burning Legion would be destroyed along with it. That would be the end of the so-called "Burning Crusade."
This was a secret unknown to all Eredar, even Kil'jaeden and Archimonde had been kept in the dark. Their initially perceived "promised day" was actually a meticulously woven lie by Sargeras.
What promised day? It was actually the doomsday that would destroy everything.
"Ten thousand years ago, you must have used this same rhetoric to deceive the Eredar, didn't you?"
Arthas's question made Sargeras shake his head and sneer, "Deceive? No, I never deceived them. It was merely their wishful thinking that led them to believe it. The Eredar race held themselves in high regard, yet they didn't even know what kind of existence their own planet could nurture."
Sargeras's voice softened, like an old friend of many years, beginning to persuade Arthas, "But you are different. Azeroth's existence is not a good thing. After the universe is reshaped, you can create countless planets like Azeroth. You will be the god of the new world, the Titan of the new world!"
His words were sincere, his gaze earnest, as he made a promise to Arthas, his tone devoid of any hint of deception. "The balance of the universe disappeared long ago in the struggle between the six fundamental forces. Continuing to allow their actions will only turn the real universe into a chessboard for them to play on, and Azeroth is their perfect means to achieve their goals. As a life born on that planet, you should understand this."
Sargeras's words were not without reason. Even among the countless stars in the universe, Azeroth was the most special one. As long as she hung high in this universe, she would inevitably give rise to wave after wave of forces eager to upset the balance of power and contend for her.
Sargeras, of course, understood this, but what made him more remarkable than those other beings was that when he realized Azeroth's existence, he managed to suppress his inner greed and transform it into a resolute desire for destruction.
Arthas was noncommittal, responding to Sargeras with only a cold remark, "Haven't you said enough to stall for time, dark lord?"
Sargeras was speechless. He shook his head, "I wasn't trying to stall for time. From the moment Aman'thul's power was infused into Argus, this process became irreversible. Even I cannot reverse the energy imbalance of two Titans. Even if you kill me, it won't change anything; and if I kill you, then everything will proceed even more smoothly. It's just a pity, in this long expanse of time, perhaps you are the only one I could have a real conversation with."
The Destroyer's eyes, spewing fire and wrath, suddenly held a touch of melancholy. This was not an emotion Sargeras faked, but the loneliness cultivated in endless solitude.
Arthas didn't know if Sargeras had any intention of delaying. The reason he hadn't launched an attack was quite simple—he was actually the one who wanted to buy time.
In their recent exchange, Arthas had already confirmed one thing: if his battle with Sargeras continued, no matter how the situation evolved, it would not end quickly.
This was Sargeras's true confidence, or perhaps the reason he dared to expose himself to Arthas.
Sargeras had no planet to protect. In his hands were only tools that could be summoned and dismissed at will, discarded at any moment. To achieve his goals, he could even sacrifice his few remaining kin.
Even if the Burning Legion was defeated by the allied forces of Azeroth, and the demons scattered, Sargeras's resolve would not waver in the slightest. However, Arthas could not accept such an outcome.
Whether Azeroth was destroyed by Sargeras, or its many lives extinguished by Sargeras's hand, neither result was something Arthas wished to see.
Although Arthas had made many preparations for Sargeras's potential countermeasures, because of Sargeras's tactic of pulling the rug out from under them, if Arthas didn't respond, even if the allied forces achieved victory on the Burning Throne, they would despairingly find they had lost the possibility of returning home.
Fortunately, even with Argus fused with Aman'thul's power, becoming a weight that could tip the scales of victory at any moment, Arthas was not without a plan.
From the moment he began clashing with Sargeras, he had been trying to strengthen his connection with the Shadowlands, but unfortunately, until just now, his attempts had not yielded much success.
The Pantheon seemed to be located in a star system not far from Argus, but this Titan-forged hall was itself a very mysterious domain. The interior of the Pantheon maintained a peculiar force field, isolating this temple of order from the erosion and disturbance of other primal forces.
One could say that the Pantheon was almost equivalent to a dimension different from the real universe, except that this dimension stood in the real universe in the form of the Pantheon building.
Arthas now understood how those original Titans used their remaining faint power to trap Sargeras motionless on the Seat of the Pantheon. In the Titans' hands, the Seat of the Pantheon was probably not just their residence and temple, but more like a fully armed battleship, or rather, a dimensional weapon they had specifically crafted.
It could even trap Sargeras at his peak and withstand Argus's full-force strikes. Breaking the Pantheon's seal through brute force would not be an easy task.
Fortunately, there's always a way. Sargeras, using Aman'thul's power as a medium to inject the essence of this father of the gods into Argus, also meant that a channel had been established between Aman'thul and Argus. Following Aman'thul's dissipating power, Arthas also quietly injected an inconspicuous trace of Death energy into it.
And this power, as expected, silently merged into that magnificent space within the realm of death, following the passage created by the temporal distortion.
Beneath the endless void and the fear of death, beneath the surging hatred and the crimson ocean solidified by hunger, this wisp of Death energy from Arthas darted like lightning, merging into the ceaseless River of Souls in an instant, and then violently crashing into the gloomy and icy Torghast.
Sensing his master's aura arrive, Torghast's defensive mechanisms all opened a green channel for it, allowing this wisp of power to reach the top of the tower. At this moment, the one wielding the power of the underworld here was a gaunt skeleton.
The lich's robes were disturbed by the flow of the River of Souls. Kel'Thuzad was still immersed in the nearly infinite mysteries of death when a message from Arthas pulled him back from his meditation.
"It's master's power... Is he sending back some important information?"
Kel'Thuzad suddenly became alert. Long before the Scourge intervened in the war on Argus, he had already been assigned by Arthas to Torghast to wield the power of The Maw, serving as a crucial safeguard.
In Arthas's initial plan, if the allied forces truly couldn't face Aggramar, Argus, and Sargeras—three Titans—simultaneously, then the power of The Maw would be key to holding back at least one of them.
And now, the message from Arthas made Kel'Thuzad realize that it was time to activate this safeguard.
He cautiously unfolded and read the message Arthas had left in the aura of death, confirming word by word whether the information was distorted and what Arthas's specific plan was.
Yet, even with mental preparation, Kel'Thuzad's heart couldn't help but churn with stormy waves, and his two pale skeletal hands instinctively began to tap together.
—The one Titan originally slated to be dealt with might no longer be relevant. Now, The Maw would likely have to bear the immense power of two Titans. Arthas planned to banish Argus, fused with Aman'thul's power, into The Maw.
As for the potential impact this might have on The Maw... Arthas only knew that The Maw, as the 'lowest point' that held the souls of the entire Shadowlands and even the universe, was actually countless times larger than the area The Jailer actually controlled.
If Argus were to unleash his power here, it would at most cause localized disturbances in parts of The Maw, but it wouldn't be able to disrupt the rules of the entire Shadowlands.
But if Argus's power was allowed to project onto Azeroth, there was no doubt that their planet would be ground to dust by the Death Titan's power.
However, this request made Kel'Thuzad look troubled: that was the full power of a Titan. Although with Arthas's help he had learned countless mysteries of death, and could even mobilize a trace of The Maw's power to strengthen himself, this power made him ten or even a hundred times stronger than the native gods on Azeroth, but compared to a Titan, it was mostly like an ant trying to shake a tree.
But now was not the time for such words. Kel'Thuzad only knew that he had to find a way to drag Argus into this afterlife, otherwise everything on Azeroth would be completely annihilated.
As a lich, Kel'Thuzad actually didn't have many compassionate thoughts. He also believed he wouldn't be as generous and kind as his master. He simply felt that if a special world like Azeroth were to be destroyed like this, wouldn't it mean that a piece of the entire universe's mystery would be forever missing?
Whether in life, as a mage, or now as a lich delving into magical mysteries, Kel'Thuzad could not accept such an outcome.
"Meow~"
Kel'Thuzad heard the familiar meow and stopped his thoughts. He bent down slightly, using his bony hand to cradle possibly the only living creature in all of Torghast—the cat that was circling his feet.
"Mr. Bigglesworth must think so too, right?"
The cat, unafraid of the cold death emanating from Kel'Thuzad, snuggled into the lich's embrace.